Former New York Times reporter Donald McNeil on Monday accused Lady Gray of exacerbating the N-word disaster that torpedoed her career – while he launched a full-fledged defense of himself online.
In a post of more than 20,000 words, composed of four parts on Medium, the journalist, who spent 45 years in the newspaper, opened about the scandal that exploded due to the comments he made during a student trip from 2019 in Peru.
“I never dreamed that one of the two trips to Peru I made – which for me were just blips in my life, which I did mostly as a favor to a friend who had I need experts to make my travels sell – it would sink my career in the Times, ”McNeil wrote in the first of a four-part post on Medium.
In late January, the Daily Beast reported allegations that McNeil, who recently led the newspaper’s COVID-19 complaint, dropped the word N and other offensive remarks during the trip.
McNeil, who kept his mother public about the issue following last month’s resignation letter, criticized the Times for her reaction to the impending Daily Beast story.
After the Beast contacted McNeil on January 28 for comments on their report, he said the Times had entered “full control of messages” – calling on him to apologize immediately and removing the excerpts he had originally drawn. he wanted to send to the Beast.
“If the Times hadn’t panicked and allowed me to send a version of it, the Beast would probably have rewritten or even told the story,” McNeil said. “Almost no doubt, the reaction inside the Times would have been different.”
Four days later, McNeil claims that Times executive editor Dean Baquet and deputy general manager Carolyn Ryan “turned their arm” to consider resigning – which led to him saying no. and made legislation.
“You lost the newsroom,” Baquet, a longtime McNeil’s colleague, told him during the phone call. “Many of your colleagues are injured. Many of them will not work with you. Thank you for writing an apology. But I’d like you to think about adding that you’re leaving. ”
McNeil’s resignation – along with the departure of Andy Mills, co-host of the “Caliphate” podcast, was announced on February 5 in a statement stating that “this is the next right step.”
McNeil, who managed to use the word N in his resignation letter, said some assumptions that he was racist were “quite discouraging and painful.”
“Am I racist? I don’t think so – after working in 60 countries for over 25 years, I think I’m pretty good at judging people as individuals “, he said in the post, about which he stated that he was previously checked by two lawyers .
He added: “What particularly puzzled me was that everyone would look at my work and conclude that I would have chosen my pace if I had been racist and could or could have survived so long.” and showed a number of awards won for its coverage involving countries such as Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria and Haiti.
McNeil said he was paid $ 300 a day to accompany students in private schools in Peru – and to support three discussions “about global health” and “make myself available to students as much as possible” – as part of “Student” The “Travel” Program.
The news veteran suggested that his discussions with young people could have been misinterpreted due to a generational gap.
“My girlfriend thinks I have a high-functioning Asperger’s aspect in my personality – I’m empathetic about suffering, but I also misread the public,” he wrote.
“So – I was five decades older than the students in Peru and I didn’t have sensitivity? Absolute. Did I have to offer perspectives that they did not receive in high school? I think so.”
McNeil, 67, whose work on the pandemic was examined by the Pulitzer Prize, also questioned the timing of the allegations.
“I have been asked many times: who was the source of the Daily Beast? And why is it leaked now, exactly when you’re ready for a Pulitzer? Said the journalist.
“The answer is: I have no idea. The story includes a quote from an internal Times email, so I have to assume it leaked from the inside. But you never know. And why? I do not know.”
McNeil said he used the word N in response to a conversation he had with a student about “if I thought a classmate of hers should have been suspended for a 12-year-old video in which she he used it. ”The blade.
He said the other allegedly offensive remarks were misinterpreted.
McNeil has promised to discuss the issue only on March 1 – when his resignation became official.
At the end of his long play, he complained about the scandal that has damaged his reputation as a scientific reporter for decades covering global health issues.
“Obviously, that year I misjudged my audience in Peru. I thought I was generally advocating for open-mindedness and tolerance – but that’s clearly not the case, “he wrote. “And my noise makes me an imperfect teacher for sensitive teenagers.”
“And now I want to put that behind me. I had hoped to be remembered as a good scientific reporter whose work saved lives. Not for that. ”